DENVER—A Canadian man who killed himself with cyanide in a Denver hotel room was suffering from schizophrenia, the coroner said Friday, and medication to treat the disorder was found in his system.
The newly released autopsy report did little to clear up questions about why Saleman Abdirahman Dirie had a pound of highly toxic sodium cyanide in his room when he was found. Police said the investigation is completed but several procedural steps remain before it is closed.
“It’s a suicide. That completes our investigation,” police spokesman John White said.
Dirie, 29, was found dead Aug. 11, two weeks before the start of the Democratic convention, in a hotel a few blocks from the state Capitol. The FBI, which assisted in the investigation, said the death has no apparent connection to terrorism. Police said there was no foul play.
The coroner ruled last week that Dirie’s death was a suicide. Officials haven’t said how he ingested the cyanide.
The autopsy report said the cyanide container had been opened. Compared with the amount in the container, the quantity found in Dirie’s body was tiny: 3.5 milligrams, or less than 1 percent of an ounce, in his stomach, and 0.85 micrograms in his blood.
The report said the 6-foot-3, 330-pound Dirie had a history of diabetes.
Dirie lived in Ottawa. Acquaintances say the Dirie family came from Somalia and are now Canadian citizens.
A brother, a cousin and a nephew of Dirie’s came to Denver to identify the body.
Dirie’s sister told The Ottawa Citizen that her brother had been doing well after beginning treatment for schizophrenia three years ago and had told family members he wanted to vacation in Denver.
Cyanide is a fast-acting chemical that, when inhaled or ingested, prevents the body from processing oxygen. It is commercially available and used in manufacturing, metallurgy and pest extermination. It can also be mixed with certain acids to produce extremely lethal cyanide gas, according to the Department of Justice.
The discovery of the cyanide in Denver with the convention so near was made more worrisome by previous plots that were uncovered during routine police encounters such as traffic stops or requests for help. A plan to destroy commercial airliners over the Pacific, for example, was uncovered in 1995 when police responded to a fire at an apartment in Manilla.
